Team Ragged Glory – Adventure Racing, Multi Sport, FriendsTeam Ragged Glory - Adventure Racing, Multi Sport, Friends - Page 8 of 18 - We race to have fun, improve our friendship, and meet every challenge head on.

Photos Doug Theis on 17 May 2010

2010 Planet Adventure Sprint Race Photos

Here are the race photos of the 2010 Planet Adventure Sprint Race.

Brookville Lake was calm and beautiful. The rain held off for the six hour course, but the twelve hour racers got a good dose of wind along with rain towards the end of the day.

Nancy Gawrys, Eric Henricks and I (Doug Theis) won the six hour course with 10 controls in the orienteering section.

Training Doug Theis on 14 May 2010

Running and Riding at the Fort in the morning

Nancy and I are meeting at 7am tomorrow morning for a run and a ride at the Delaware Lake lot of Fort Harrison in Indianapolis. Come on out.

Training Doug Theis on 14 May 2010

Nice run last night with Eric and Heath

Eric Henricks and Heath Kirkpatrick gave TRG a call yesterday to run at Fort Harrison. It was nice to relive our successful PA sprint race with Eric. Nancy Gawrys and I (Doug Theis) enjoyed hanging with the two members of Team Friends. Now Eric is a TRG member!

News Doug Theis on 13 May 2010

Team Ragged Glory and the Nashville Muddy Buddy

TRG is training for the Muddy Buddy in Nashville. This multi-city race involves six miles of two-person, one-bike fun. We’re fielding three teams: Bob Mueller and Julie Nor, Doug Theis and Steve Kincade, and Nancy Gawrys and Maddie Gawrys-Strand.

The race is May 22 and our friends Andy Gullahorn and Jill Phillips are letting us camp in their yard. Their neighborhood, like so many others, felt the effects of the Nashville flooding. Please pray for that area and help if you can.

Race Reports Doug Theis on 01 May 2010

We get by with a little help from our Friends

For the last two years, the first race of the Team Ragged Glory (TRG) season has been the Planet Adventure Sprint. Last year, Nancy Gawrys and I (Doug Theis) raced as a two-some because the other TRG members werenâ€™t available. This year, we had planned to race again as a two-some. But a few weeks before the event, one of our old adventure racing buddies, Eric Henricks, said he was looking for a team.

I first met Eric at the Planet Adventure 30 Hour Challenge in 2001. Eric and his crew often join TRG for training runs in the winter. Eric typically races with his group of buddies as team â€œFriends.â€ Team Friends is very similar to TRG; they are friends first, and they believe in the same casual have “fun/stay safe/finish” approach to racing. TRG and Friends also race at roughly the same pace, and we often see (and help) each other multiple times during a race. Nancy and I decided that racing with Eric would be fun and a nice team cross-pollination. So Team Ragged Glory Friends was born.

The 2010 PA Sprint was held on April 24th and consisted of two courses: a six-hour and a twelve-hour course. Eric had an evening commitment, so we decided to race the short course. The race was at the Mounds State Recreation Area, south of Richmond, Indiana on Brookville Lake. No Planet Adventure Race had ever been at Brookville Lake, so we were looking forward to the new venue.

To prepare, we traded a few emails about responsibilities. Eric would be primary navigator and sit in the back of the canoe. Nancy would carry the passport, and I would be responsible for the big picture of the course and any tie-breaking decisions. We did a little practicing with our bike towing system the day before the race. We felt ready to go.

The weather for the two weeks leading up to the race was unseasonably warm and dry. But the forecast for race day was rain and possible thunderstorms. As we drove to Brookville Lake, rain pelted Ericâ€™s van. I was a little worried about staying warm and being on the water with the risk of lightning. As we arrived, the rain slowed down to a sprinkle. Things were looking up.

We received maps 1.5 hours before the starting gun. Both courses would be scored first by cutoff times, then by the number of controls found. For every minute a team arrived late at the finish line, a one control penalty would be assessed — a costly mistake. On the six-hour course, we would start with a four-mile paddle, followed by a 13 miles on the roads with our mountain bikes. We would ride back to the start/finish line, and then set out on foot with a separate orienteering map. The number of controls found on foot would be critical to doing well in the race.

The staff held the pre-race meeting, we made final preparations, and the gun sounded. We started with a half-mile run to the canoe put-in. Although we werenâ€™t the first to the canoes, without saying a word, we grabbed a canoe, put the boat in, and were first in the water. We quickly settled in to a smooth pace and never looked back. The water was like glass, and we paddled in front of the pack all the way to the canoe take-out.

As we dropped our paddling gear and climbed on the bikes, we saw Citgo, one of the fast teams on the 12 hour course, paddling in to the checkpoint. That motivated us to get on the bikes and get going. The first part of the bike section was a steady uphill climb. We opted to take a slightly longer route to avoid a few climbs. Although we missed our first turn because the road was slightly different than on the map, we rode well. Eric got a flat about halfway through the bike course, and although we had a tough time getting his slicks off the rim, we worked well as a team and got back on track. We rode back to the start/finish line and arrived just a couple of minutes before Team Cris and Rach, more of our adventure racing friends. We knew the orienteering section would be where the race was won or lost.

We had about 3.5 hours to get as many of the 16 controls as we could. The orienteering course was large and full of brambles. We found the first control fairly quickly and opted to shoot bearings and go directly from control to control. This strategy is not Ericâ€™s favorite, but the maps were not very detailed and we decided that it would be a reasonable approach. It turned out to be a great decision. Even though the underbrush was thick and bramble-filled, Ericâ€™s bearings took us directly to ten controls, covering about eight miles in three hours. We spent about half an hour on our eleventh and last control, but could not find it on our way back.

We overestimated the time it would take us to get back to the finish line, and arrived 30 minutes before the cut off. All five short course teams got in on time. As the staff scored the passports, we learned that TRG Friends came in first place with our 10 controls on the orienteering course! Cristal Garrison and Rachel Noir came in second with four controls on the O-course. Congratulations to them on their fine finish.

The win was not only gratifying, but it seemed easy. Racing with Eric seemed as natural as it could be. I felt like we had raced with Eric for years. We worked well together and had a great time. And the weather was nearly perfect for the six hour course. Ericâ€™s van is also the perfect adventure racing vehicle — makes me want one.

Ericâ€™s comments: “I really liked our collaborative approach to the race with everyone engaged in decisions regarding primary areas of responsibility, canoe configuration, bike route choice, and resolution of uncertainties during the trek. I look forward to our next endeavor!”

Nancyâ€™s comments: “For me, it is always a little more mentally challenging preparing for a race with a teammate I have not raced with before. It brings another unknown element into the race. From the moment we all got together for the race, I knew that this was going to be a special team. I love our similar competitive drives, importance of friendship, and overall love of the sport. I just want to say thank you to both of you for a fun day in the woods.”

The twelve-hour folks had a good bit of rain and strong winds. Citgo won the twelve-hour course, and Dino came in second place. James Nichols of Tailwynd put on another great event. Paula Pearson did a fine job managing the volunteers, and Mike Garrisonâ€™s course design was top-notch. A big thanks to the race staff and volunteers for another great event; it could never happen without you.

Race Reports Doug Theis on 25 Sep 2009

How an Adventure Race Works – 2009 Indianapolis Adventure Race Recap by Team Ragged Glory

Many of my friends have asked me how an adventure race works. Hereâ€™s a description of adventure racing and a recap of an adventure race that my team and I completed last weekend.

Adventure racing is a team event that combines road/mountain biking, canoeing, trail running/hiking, orienteering/navigation, rope work and surprise mystery events. Teams consist of three: coed, all male and female. All team members must start and finish together, covering the entire course together. The actual distances, course layout and order of events will not be disclosed until race day.

Teammates are required to stay within 100 or so feet of each other at all times. Each team carries a passport that they punch, write on, or get signed at each checkpoint along the way to prove that they completed the course.

Greg Arnold, Indianaâ€™s father of adventure racing, started what is now known as the Indianapolis Adventure Race in 2000. The first year was a training event. The second year, Greg held the first-ever competitive adventure race in Indianapolis. Michael Sapper took over the event in 2001, continuing the tradition and enhancing the race into one of the areaâ€™s favorites. The 2009 race was the 10th anniversary event. Itâ€™s one of the oldest adventure races in the Midwest.

For the 2009 race, Michael and Indy Rootstock (another Indianapolis adventure race team) delivered another challenging course, designed to favor patience and accurate navigation.

Ninety minutes before the start, we received race directions and three of the six maps we would be using:
1. A Zionsville map
2. A map of northwest Marion County in Indianapolis
3. The Eagle Creek West orienteering map

The race directions gave us an idea of the order of the race disciplines. We would be paddling, then navigating on-foot, biking, navigating on-foot again, biking, rappelling off the Eagle Creek dam, more biking, doing an unknown special test, still more biking, visiting a climbing gym, and more biking to the finish line.

Sixty minutes before start time, Michael held the pre-race meeting. He described in more detail the course we would be following:

â€¢ Before the race began, racers would be bused to Lions Park in Zionsville. We would receive the fourth map (Lions Park/town of Zionsville) at the start of the race.
â€¢ We would start with a two-mile run to seven checkpoints in and around the park.
â€¢ After returning to the park, we would paddle/drag the canoes five miles down Eagle Creek to the mouth of Eagle Creek Reservoir. It turned out to be about half paddle, half drag/portage.
â€¢ We would orienteer on-foot from Lafayette Road and Traders Lane back to the start finish line at 56th and Raceway, picking up controls in the deep woods on the west side of Eagle Creek Reservoir along the way.
â€¢ After returning to the start/finish line, also know as Transition Area 1 (TA1) we would bike to the second on-foot orienteering section.
â€¢ Receive the fifth map, then orienteer on-foot finding another few controls in the woods around the southwest end of the reservoir.
â€¢ Bike to the Eagle Creek Reservoir dam.
â€¢ Rappel down the north face of the Eagle Creek dam, unhook, and drop the last 15 feet into the reservoir, then swim to the side.
â€¢ Bike to Northwestway Park for a special test.
â€¢ Bike to Climb Time Towers for a special test.
â€¢ Bike back to the finish line, picking up two more controls along the way.

Finish times were expected to be around 6.5 hours for the winners. The course would close after 11 hours. Estimates on total distances per discipline were:
â€¢ 8-9 miles on-foot
â€¢ 5-6 mile paddle
â€¢ 31-32 miles of biking

We spent our remaining minutes preparing our route choices, finished marking the maps and packing our mandatory gear. Then we climbed on the buses and headed to Zionsville.

At 8am, the gun sounded and fifty teams were off. Team Ragged Glory progressed well through the course, steady and in the top 10 for the paddle and navigation sections of the race. Bob handled the three separate on-foot navigation sections flawlessly. We transitioned well. The rappel off the dam was spectacular.

We received our sixth and final map at the special test at Northwestway Park. The test required one person on bike, one person on foot and one on scooter for a 1.5-mile loop around the paved walking trail. Bob rode the bike and towed Nancy who ran while I rode a Razor scooter. Then after another short bike leg, we climbed a thirty-foot climbing wall at Climb Time Towers for the final special test.

Team Ragged Glory completed the course in eight hours, forty minutes. We ended up finishing fourth out of 50 teams, a great ending to a beautiful day.

What we did well:
â€¢ Bobâ€™s navigation was perfect. He studied the Eagle Creek West O-map on the bus ride to Zionsville. His route choice was fast and accurate.
â€¢ The early boat drag was both physically and mentally challenging; experience helped us not spend too much energy in this section.
â€¢ Towing on bike and on foot improved our overall speed.
â€¢ Our transition speeds were excellent.
â€¢ Splitting the maps, passports and race directions among all three team members helps for faster overall speed and better accuracy.

What we could have done better:
â€¢ Looking at the map instead of following other teams like lemmings (sending Nancy) up the hill at the first (wrong) checkpoint on the paddle.
â€¢ Moments of trying to â€œraceâ€ a few teams on the paddle/drag section rather than keeping our pace steady and under control (our race, our pace)
â€¢ Staying out of Bobâ€™s wheel on the bike tow.

Team member comments about Team Ragged Gloryâ€™s fourth place finish:

â€¢ Bob Mueller: Our team executed well and teammates were on the same page.
â€¢ Nancy Gawrys: We set goals to tow on bike/on foot and to transition fast. We accomplished them.
â€¢ Me: In-race decision-making, team dynamic and Bobâ€™s navigation were all nearly perfect.

Thatâ€™s how an adventure race works. Every race is a little different. Volunteers are a huge part of making these complex events a success. Our thanks goes out to every volunteer.

Want to give it a try?

Doug Theis
Team Ragged Glory
September 24, 2009

Photography by Gail Henricks

Team Ragged Glory – Adventure Racing, Multi Sport, Friends

2010 Planet Adventure Sprint Race Photos

Running and Riding at the Fort in the morning

Nice run last night with Eric and Heath

Team Ragged Glory and the Nashville Muddy Buddy

We get by with a little help from our Friends

How an Adventure Race Works – 2009 Indianapolis Adventure Race Recap by Team Ragged Glory

TRG grabs unofficial fourth overall in the 10th Indy Adventure Race

2009 Planet Adventure Urban Sprint recap

2009 Indianapolis Adventure Race Photos

2009 Planet Adventure Urban Sprint Photos

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